CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME
Boris set for new laws to slash foreign aid bill
THE government is set to pass new laws to cut the UK’s overseas aid budget.
But it has raised fears among among some MPs that the reduction could be a permanent move.
There had been speculation that chancellor Rishi Sunak was proposing a temporary, one-off cut to help pay down the government’s record deficit, caused by dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
But a spokesman for Boris Johnson said the UK “is and will remain one of the biggest contributors to aid of any country on earth”.
They said the country “should be incredibly proud of what Britain does to support people around the world”.
The idea behind a temporary cut was to reduce aid spending next year to just 0.5 per cent of national income, down from the legally binding target of 0.7 per cent.
Rishi Sunak’s reforms will require new legislation to be passed by Parliament, which some MPs believe implies a permanent cut to the aid target or even its abolition.
Change
The issue is that the 0.7 per cent baseline for Britain’s aid budget is enshrined in law by the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act.
It does allow the government to miss the target in certain circumstances, such as if there is a substantial change in the country’s national income.
Foreign and Development Secretary Dominic Raab is simply required to lay a report before Parliament explaining why he has missed the target.
But there is a growing belief at Westminster that this exemption can apply only retrospectively.
The act places a duty on Mr Raab to ensure the 0.7 per cent target is met. If he misses it, the act requires him to describe what steps he has taken to ensure the target is met the following year.
Some MPs and charities believe these two provisions mean the government cannot declare in advance its intention to miss the target without breaking the law.
To cut the aid budget without fresh legislation might lay the decision open to judicial review.
MPs also believe a one-off cut to the aid target – a saving of about £4bn – would hardly touch the sides of the £350bn deficit projected for this year.
Almost 200 charities, two former PMs, opposition parties, church leaders, ex-heads of the armed forces, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and global philanthropists have come out against the cuts.